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Hoyos earns title, Bryant tentatively earns seed into next US Closed

Viktors Pupols and Yasser Seirawan, reenacting a photo shot nearly 40 years earlier. This will likely be the cover photo for the September 2012 Northwest Chess magazine. Photo credit: Jeffrey Roland.

GM Manuel Leon Hoyos won an Armageddon playoff with the white pieces to earn the title of 2012 United States Open Chess Champion. Hoyos finished with an 8-1 record, the same as GM Dmitry Gurevich and FM John Bryant of California. The top two players on tiebreak (Hoyos and Bryant) were seeded into the playoff for an extra $200 in prize money and the championship trophy. An Armageddon style playoff is a one game blitz match of 5 minutes vs. 3 minutes (in this case with 5 second delay), black having draw odds. Hoyos is the reigning Mexican Champion currently attending Webster University in St. Louis. Bryant, as the first American finisher on tiebreaks, will be seeded into the next U.S. Closed Championship, assuming that the current qualifying rules remain unchanged for 2013. The final crosstable is located here.

Report from Rusty Miller

Results of Clark County Players (local to Vancouver, WA):

Andy May 6.5 points out of 9 games played
Samir Sen 5.5 out of 8
Matthew Goshen 4 out of 6
Alec Ho 5 out of 8
Daniel Ho 5 out of 8
Viajko Lakic 5.5 out of 9
Micah Smith 5.5 out of 9
Becca Lampman 5 out of 9
Sarah May 4.5 out of 9
Aaron Nickoski 4.5 out of 9
Milton Colpron 4 out of 9
Frederick Davis 3 out of 8
Jon Strohbehn 3.5 out of 8
Russell Miller 4 out of 9
James Schroeder 3.5 out of 6
Richard Banner 3.5 out of 9
Alexander Barrett 3 out of 9
Joshua Feener 3 out of 9
Rick Nicoski 2 out of 8
Greg Bradburn 2 out of 9

517 players total with 19 from Clark County. Three players tied for 1st place with 8 points out of 9: Grandmaster Manuel Hoyes of Mexico, Grandmaster Dmitry Gurevich of Illinois and FIDE Master John Bryant of California.

The United States Chess Federation hopes to return to the Pacific Northwest in the next 6-10 years. The 114th US Open will be in Madison WI. and 115th in St. Louis MO.
The event is held once a year and moves around the country. It was last held in this area in Portland Oregon in 1987 with 532 players and 1966 in Seattle Washington with 201 players. 8 players who played in Seattle also played in Vancouver.

Andy May played in the one day Blitz tournament and tied for 7th to 14th place. 129 players took part. Sarah May placed 2nd in the 2012 US Women’s Open.